Verity Healthcare

Karen Clark Retains Staff in Thoughts


Karen Clark had simply accomplished an MBA program and entered the workforce when it occurred. Senior administration at Broadcom wanted her to help the human assets division following the surprising departure of a colleague on the advantages crew. There was only one drawback: Clark had no skilled expertise in the advantages house. 

Regardless of her preliminary panic, Clark agreed. “I didn’t know the lingo or the acronyms as I sat in on a advantages assembly with our dealer,” she says. “Nevertheless, I selected to see the request as a chance to develop and make new connections.”

The choice paid off. Clark rapidly realized she had discovered her ardour. A decade later, she’s main advantages and wellness for the nation’s largest private strains insurance coverage company. The company, referred to as Confie, has about 5,000 workers within the US and Mexico who present auto, bike, renters, owners, life, and medical health insurance to shoppers in all fifty US states. 

One overarching objective guides Clark in all she does at Confie. “I’m a passionate chief in advantages and wellness,” she explains. “My mission is designing distinctive applications that search to empower workers to thrive in each their private {and professional} lives.” 

Because the post-COVID workforce continues to evolve, Clark is in search of each alternative to pursue innovation. “Our plans need to align with the varied and altering wants of our workers,” she says, including that these workers have to be prime of thoughts when structuring applications.

That’s a lesson Clark discovered early on in her profession. She remembers rolling out a brand new wellness initiative that fell flat together with her colleagues. Upon reflection, the younger Clark realized she had centered on programming that appeared most necessary to workers from her perspective with out looking for worker enter. Since then, Clark has made positive to know workers’ wants within the plan design course of.



Confie’s HR division takes that accountability significantly. Clark doesn’t merely flow into worker surveys—she additionally seems to be for alternatives to personally interact her colleagues to seek out out what issues most to them. Probably the most rewarding a part of her job, Clark says, is when she hears of the optimistic impression she and her crew has on workers and their households.

“When workers tell us that an providing we helped launch made a distinction for them or {that a} considerate wellness marketing campaign I deliberate made them really feel seen, it offers us function and reveals that this work has an enduring and significant impression on particular person lives and office tradition,” she says.

Lately, Confie has been working to optimize the psychological well being options of its advantages and wellness plan. Beginning in January 2025, the group will launch a brand new program to additional help its workers. The improved psychological well being platform offers workers and every age-appropriate member of their family entry to a complete of twenty-five remedy and psychiatric classes per yr without charge.

Clark’s ardour for uplifting others to succeed in their full potential extends past the workplace. She is a printed writer whose youngsters’s e book I Can Be Something! What About You? helps younger individuals imagine within the energy of their goals.

“I imagine storytelling can plant seeds of chance in a baby’s thoughts,” she says. “I wrote the e book as a result of I needed to create one thing lasting for my youngsters, to encourage them as they develop. On the identical time, I additionally wrote the e book for different youngsters and households. I imagine each baby deserves to really feel seen and inspired.”

Clark has this objective for Confie’s workers too. By prioritizing inclusive tradition and company social accountability, Clark has taken the lead with creating and implementing interactive occasions that encourage worker engagement on these important subjects.

For instance, Clark’s crew just lately launched an interactive Bingo sport, the place every sq. on the cardboard is linked to a short video for workers to discover subjects about constructing a welcoming, inclusive office. Subjects included having braveness to have tough conversations, an unconscious bias all of us could have, and why variety and ranging views are necessary. The sport, Clark says, goes past enjoyable—it helps foster a tradition of mutual respect, displays Confie’s values, and aligns with its imaginative and prescient for the long run.

At its core, these initiatives profit everybody, Clark says. They guarantee all workers really feel valued, revered, and understood.

In September 2024, Worker Profit Information named Clark as one in all twenty-five revolutionary advantages leaders who’re going past their outlined roles to drive optimistic change. “I used to be honored to obtain this award, which displays my dedication and fervour,” she says. “I’m grateful for the help of my crew and colleagues that helped to make this recognition attainable.”

Going ahead, Clark is dedicated to persevering with her work at Confie. She hopes to construct upon sturdy relationships with varied departments to amplify the collective impression of the corporate’s advantages and well-being applications. “I need to discover new methods to profit our workers, help their households, and foster a optimistic office tradition,” she explains.

It’s a method the advantages and wellness chief ensures her continued progress, which Clark encourages all her colleagues, friends, and counterparts to pursue. “I’ve had one of the best alternatives after I’ve been keen to step outdoors of my consolation zone and problem myself,” she says. “We must always all preserve an open thoughts, since you by no means know what can occur if you say sure to one thing new.”



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